I remember when my local Wal-Mart store had a bike rack out front. When did they get rid of that? I don’t think I’ve seen it there for at least twenty years. Why bother removing that? It wasn’t “in the way” of anything. My friends and I rode our bikes all over town when we were kids. That freedom was a great thing. What do kids do now? Wait around for their parents to drive them somewhere? They certainly don’t do much walking. I blame Nintendo.
We are, more or less, currently in the chronological era that old Cyberpunk fiction used to write about. But the “Now” is nothing like they thought it would be. It was all so cool to imagine back then. But is that material all worthless now? Is an entire genre of fiction dead? It has transformed over time, updating itself to keep slightly ahead of real world advances in technology. But the essence of it isn’t the same. Maybe it’s just because the medium changed. There aren’t many Cyberpunk novelists around these days. Video games stepped in to fill that void. Unfortunately they have other concerns (like visual fidelity and entertaining interactivity) than faithfully upholding the old Cyberpunk ethos. And, even if that weren’t the case, the world has changed to make the nature of that old fiction irrelevant.
I have no grand insights to share on this matter. I just wanted to mention it.
Perhaps I just want a non-cheesy remake of Johnny Mnemonic. It worked for Dredd.
On The Back Of A Winged Horse
Through The Sky, Pearly Gray
Love Is Leaf-like
You And Me Baby
Twinkle Twinkle
Blah Blah Blah
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